Dispatches from a Scamdemic

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PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERTS, CARBS, MARGARINE AND CORONAMANIA
In mid-March, 2020, just as the Scamdemic was beginning, I visited my parents. As often, they were watching the TV news. My 91-year-old mother, who was…
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Mark Oshinskie
145
BEARING WITNESS TO GNAWING TRUTH
One mid-week, early September, 1986 morning, my backpack and I took a ferry from Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia. Upon arrival, I met a Customs…
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Mark Oshinskie
137
TRUSTING OUR OWN EYES
Yesterday, I visited my widowered 95-year-old father, who lives an hour north of me. When I arrived, the TV news loop was, as always, on. Loud…
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Mark Oshinskie
157
August 2023
PLANTS AND PEOPLE, SICKNESS AND HEALTH, LIFE AND SEASONALITY
As summer winds down, I wanted to write once more about this most lively and evocative season. From early March through early December, I’m outside in…
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Mark Oshinskie
45
GRAND THEFT CORONA
In 1983, I had an apartment on Martin Luther King Blvd. in Newark, New Jersey’s Central Ward. I looked out of place in the neighborhood. But the rent…
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Mark Oshinskie
123
SAME STORY, NEW PHOTO
My wife told me I goofed by posting another picture of her. Just in case you see me walking around. Please come over and say “Hey.” Alt title: Old Man…
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Mark Oshinskie
78
JERSEY SHORE AFTERNOON
Given my food/flower-growing job, I can’t go on summer vacation. Instead, my wife and I pick one afternoon a week—based on the weather—and head to the…
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Mark Oshinskie
92
DEATH OF A STRANGER
Over the past two years, the community gardens I manage have become a haven for homeless or underemployed men and women. The pleasant setting attracts…
73
YET ANOTHER T SHIRT UPDATE
This afternoon, the Men’s shirts arrived at my house. I spent the past hour-plus packaging them. I will mail them on Monday AM. Thanks for having been…
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Mark Oshinskie
45
THE REALM OF IMPOSSIBILITY
In my teens and twenties, I had a friend whose mother was delusionally schizophrenic. For most of those years, Mrs. D lived at home. When I went to my…
13
T SHIRT UPDATE
As shown above, a box of shirts arrived today, five days late. This box contains only the women’s shirts. They are of good quality and I like the stark…
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Mark Oshinskie
BELATEDLY ADMITTING THE TRUTH, SORT OF
Over the past few years, two immigrants in their mid-fifties became my friends. These guys are among the gentlest spirits that I’ve known, though one…
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Mark Oshinskie
112
© 2023 Mark Oshinskie
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